Iran Answers Trump on the Chance for Negotiations

"I really believe that Iran would like to make a deal," President Trump said Monday about possible talks concerning its nuclear program, "and I think that’s very smart of them, and I think that’s a possibility to happen." He received his answer on Tuesday. "We currently see no prospect of negotiations with America," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said, per Reuters. Trump had said the US isn't seeking a regime change in Iran, just "no nuclear weapons." Iran answered that, as well; Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri said the development of a nuclear weapon has been prohibited by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

A Revolutionary Guard spokesman addressed the growing tension between the two nations by saying the guard doesn't fear war with the US. The US has not become more formidable, he said, while Iran's military has. "The enemy is not more powerful than before," Gen. Ramazan Sharif said, per PBS. The tension has increased since Trump pulled the US out of the 2015 nuclear deal that limited Iran’s uranium enrichment activities in return for the removal of sanctions. Iran's economy has suffered since the US reinstated the sanctions. The US recently deployed an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers to the Persian Gulf, citing a threat from Iran, and announced plans to send more troops to the Middle East. (Trump issued a warning to Iran.)